For several minutes, we zigzagged at top speed through debris fields, rubble piles, and wrecked buildings, our sandals sinking into the thick sand with every step. Soon I became winded and slowed to a jog. After a few more minutes, fatigue forced me to slow to a walk. I kept to the shadows of the obstructions and structures to mask our party from anyone or anything that might seek us. About a quarter of an hour after we had left the tower, the buildings I’d seen earlier came into view.
Idril jogged up beside me. “As you said, these structures appear less damaged. Let us choose the first structure that seems fit for defense. We can rest and have some food.”
“There,” I said, pointing to the right at an intact two-story structure. “It’s made of stone and has an exterior staircase to the upper floor.”
“Good,” Idril said.
We dashed to the building. Idril told her warriors to spread out and to check the perimeter for any other access to the upper floor. I looked nervously in the direction we had come from but saw no evidence that the mutants had pursued us. The warriors returned quickly and reported to Idril there were no other stairs to the upper floor.
“Everyone up the stairs,” Idril said. “It will be easier to defend from above.”
Melriel went first. I followed her. Idril and the warriors climbed the stairs behind us. When we reached the top of the stairs, we entered an open doorway and found an empty room.
The smooth stone floor had a thick covering of dust, which revealed no footprints of any recent visitors. The room had open window frames in all four walls. Idril stationed a warrior at a window on each side as lookouts. Two others were positioned at the top of the staircase.
“Pass out the food,” Idril said.
I dropped the pack I was carrying, opened it, and distributed dried meat and bread first to the warriors and then to Melriel and Idril. I took food for myself and then closed the pack. I sat on the floor with Idril and Melriel, our backs against a wall, and we ate.
“We are in the City of the Dead, yet some creatures live,” Idril said.
“What in the name of the Goddess-Queens were those things back at the tower?” Melriel said.
“Mutants, I suspect,” I said. “They are likely descendants of beings much like us, but now horribly deformed by the lingering effects of the weapons used against this city during the ancient war.”
“Obviously, they are dangerous and aggressive,” Idril said. “Individually, they pose little threat to us, given their primitive weapons. But a group of them might mass against us, overwhelming our small number. It is best to keep our distance when fighting these mutants. We cannot allow them to catch us in the open.”
“That poses a small problem,” I said. “We must be out in the city, searching if we are to find the artifact we came here to recover.”
“I think we should forget the artifact and return to the harbor,” Melriel said. “If we build a signal fire there, perhaps the master of the ship will see it, recognize its meaning, and send the boats back for us early.”
“We’ve come so far, I don’t want to just give up without making a real attempt at finding the artifact,” I said. “As you’ve said, Idril, the creatures we encountered are no match for your well-trained warriors.”
“Yes, I agree we must attempt to find the artifact,” Idril said. “I won’t be chased away by the first sign of difficulties. Besides, there is no guarantee Captain Sasha would send the boats back early even if she saw a fire on the shore. Trusting to such a plan, we might only unnecessarily expose ourselves to attack out in the open.”
“We should never have come to this vile place,” Melriel insisted.
“But we’re here, mistress,” I said. “We should at least attempt to locate the artifact.”
Looking up, I saw an opening in the ceiling on the opposite side of the room. I stood and walked to stand beneath it.
“It’s access to the roof,” I said. “Give me a boost, and I’ll go up and have a look around.”
Idril walked over to me and bent forward with her fingers interlaced to form a step for my foot. I grasped her shoulders for balance and put a foot on her hands. She easily lifted me upwards. Letting go of her shoulders, I grasped the edges of the opening. Once I pulled myself up to where I could rest my elbows on the roof at the edge of the opening, I hoisted myself up onto the roof.
The roof was flat and open. It provided me a good view in all directions. To the left, I saw a monumental structure, a quadrangle with four vast wings at each of the four main compass point directions. The architecture reminded me of the Greek Revival style of Earth with many soaring Greek temple-like columns, triangular pediment, and enormous broad steps leading to a stately entrance. Whether a government building, museum, or temple of some sort, it seemed like a good place to explore.
Hearing shouts in the room below, I dropped down onto my belly next to the opening. I stuck my head down to see what was going on. Idril glanced at me.
“The mutants come,” she said, pointing to one of the front-facing window openings.
I got onto my hands and knees and crawled to the edge of the roof towards the direction Idril had pointed to. Lowering myself back down on my belly, I scanned the area in front and below me. Then I saw them. There were three of the creatures about 300 meters away. One had its head tilted back, apparently sniffing the air for a scent. The other two seemed to discuss, or more accurately disagree about something. One pointed towards the building we occupied and shook his head violently.
Were they fearful of approaching us because they understood our warriors possessed weapons that killed at a distance? But no. The longer I observed them, the more I sensed they weren’t afraid of us. Instead, they seemed reluctant to approach the area where we had taken refuge. I couldn’t hear their communication, and would not have understood it even if I had. But their body language suggested there was something about the area they found unsettling.
After several minutes more, the creature who seemed in charge shrugged. Then all three dropped back onto all fours and shuffled away in the direction it seemed they had come from. Perhaps we had nothing to fear from them as long as we were in this part of the city. I felt ever more strongly the area had once been the seat of government here long years in the past.
Walking back to the opening in the roof, I sat on the edge, dangling my feet in the air. Then I pushed off with my hands and dropped to the floor below in a crouch.
“They have gone for now,” Idril said.
“Yes, I saw them from the roof,” I said. “They seemed reluctant to encroach on this area we’re in. Almost as if something about it unsettles them. I don’t think we need fear exploring the area. I don’t think they will return.”
“I got the same impression watching them from the window,” Idril said. “Then let us go. We can explore the buildings you’re interested in. Then well before dusk, we will return here to overnight unless we find an equally defensible spot elsewhere during our quest.”
Chapter 15
A Second Clue
Again, I took to the lead as we left our little fortress. Idril walked behind me, followed by three warriors ahead and three behind Melriel. It was a short walk to the monolithic structure I’d seen from the roof of the building we’d occupied. We mounted the broad, massive steps. The entrance was open, though rusted, disintegrated metal hardware along both sides revealed mammoth wood doors once hung in the open masonry frame. They had long since rotted and crumbled into dust. Obelisks flanked either side of the entrance.
Chiseled into the massive marble lintel beam above the entrance, the distinctive script known on Earth as ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs translated to: “Hail to you, great god, lord of justice.” That confirmed the impressive structure had once been a temple to some deity.
Inside the entrance was a covered courtyard or great hall. Straight ahead, I saw other open doorways into halls beyond the courtyard, each of which I expected the ancient people of Saba had considered more sacred than
the one before. Back on Earth, they had allowed ordinary ancient Egyptians to enter the courtyard of the temples on special festival days, but no further into the temple. Since it was becoming more and more certain to me that the ancient Egyptians of Earth had originated here on this planet, it seemed safe to assume the religious protocols here would have been similar if not identical.
I stopped at the next open doorway and looked into the next hall. A row of palm columns surrounded the hall. Light streamed in through windows cut high on the side walls just below the roof. The light illuminated columns in the center of the hall shaped like papyrus plants, open as though they were blooming. We advanced through the doorway into the next hall.
The third hall had no light shining in except for that coming from the doorway from the hall we had just exited. It was very dark inside. I suspected only priests had entered this part of the temple. I noticed that the ceilings were getting lower, and the floor was slanting upwards as we moved deeper into the temple. At least with the ancient Egyptian temples on Earth, that meant we were getting close to the sanctuary, the most sacred part of the temple.
Standing in the doorway to the sanctuary, my heart leapt at the sight straight ahead of me. It was a shrine with massive stone statues of the two gods and the goddess to whose honor the Sabaians had built the temple. The gods they had believed protected and brought wealth and prosperity to their land.
The god in the center wore the familiar Atef crown on his head. The god to his right had the head of a hawk and wore a double crown. He was Horus, the son of Osiris. The goddess to Osiris’ left was the image of a beautiful woman, wearing a headdress of two horns with a sun disk between them. She was Isis, sister-wife of Osiris, mother of Horus, and I fervently hoped the object of the riddle. I turned to Idril and Melriel behind me.
“Meet the goddess Isis,” I said. “The one who restored the brother of Set. The god in the middle, Osiris, is the brother of Set and brother-husband of Isis.”
“Could it really be so easy finding the artifact we’re looking for?” Melriel said.
“The artifact is there?” Idril said. “Within the statue?”
“Only one way to find out,” I said, striding toward the statue of Isis. I walked around the base, examining the statue from every angle. It was three times my height, about 5.5 meters. There was something at the back of the neck that didn’t look like part of the statue itself. From the floor, it looked like a round disk with something inscribed on it. But the inscription was too small to make out at the distance I stood from it. I turned to the warriors.
“Over here, please,” I said.
The warriors looked at me, then at Idril. Idril considered me for a moment, then turned to the warriors and motioned them over.
Picking the first four in line, I said, “You, you, you, and you. Get on your hands and knees on the floor next to the base of the statue.”
They looked at me hesitantly for a moment.
“Now, hurry, please,” I said.
Reluctantly, the four of them got down on their hands and knees.
Turning back to the other two, I said, “Now, you and you get on their backs on your hands and knees.”
“Do it,” Idril said.
The two warriors gingerly climbed upon the back of their warrior sisters and positioned themselves on their hands and knees.
“Now,” I said to Idril. “If you would be kind enough to get on the backs of the two on top on your hands and knees.”
Idril nodded. It seemed she had worked out what I was up to. Without hesitation, she scrambled up the pyramid of bodies and positioned herself on hands and knees atop the two upmost warriors. Then I stepped forward, putting my right foot on the upper back of one warrior on all fours on the ground. Carefully, I climbed the pyramid until I reached Idril, then maneuvered myself until I was squatting on her muscular back. I then cautiously stood upright. I could then reach the disk, which looked to be a metal medallion.
It was copper or brass, and about the size of a one-dollar coin back on Earth. Someone had drilled a hole through it at the top edge. It hung suspended from the neck of the goddess statue by a thin metal chain, which also appeared to be copper. The chain was small and delicate. I had not even seen it from the floor in the dim lighting. Evidently, someone had hung the medallion at the back of the neck so it wouldn’t be noticeable from the front.
The pyramid was feeling unsteady, and I could hear more than a few groans and muttered Vulvarian curses from below. Instead of trying to spin the chain to find a clasp, I just gave the medallion a firm tug, breaking the chain and leaving the medallion in my hand. I shoved it between my teeth, and then cautiously descended the pyramid to the floor. Idril re-positioned herself, pushed off, and then leapt to the floor, followed by the two warriors who formed the second level. Then the four warriors on the floor got to their feet.
“What is it?” Idril said as I closely examined the inscriptions on the medallion.
“I think it’s another clue to the location of the artifact,” I said.
“But I thought you said we would find the artifact when we found Isis,” she said.
“I said we might find it here,” I said. “The journal wasn’t particularly clear on that point. It seems the first clue only directed us to the location of a second. Chances are, there will be another clue after this one, and maybe another after that before we find directions to the artifact itself. That’s just how these things work.”
“We’ve already been here half a day,” Melriel said. “With only two-and-a-half days left, maybe we won’t have enough time to solve so many riddles and clues.”
“Well, we solved the first one,” I said. “We will just have to continue on until we find the artifact, or else we run out of time.”
“So, does that thing tell us where to go next?” Idril said.
“I’m working on it,” I said. “Don’t rush me. The light in here is bad, and the inscriptions are small.”
I glanced around and saw another doorway at the back of the sanctuary.
“Let’s go that way,” I said. “Unless I miss my guess, that doorway should lead outside to a sacred lake.”
Without waiting for an answer, I strode to the doorway and followed a short hallway until I passed through another doorway into an outdoor courtyard. As I stepped out of the temple, my eyes adjusting to the brighter light, sure enough in front of me was a large pool of water. This I knew was what the ancient Egyptians called the sacred lake, a common feature once used in temple rituals.
I sat down on a stone bench and worked on translating the inscriptions on the medallion.
“What does it say,” Melriel said.
“I’m not finished yet, mistress,” I said. “Patience, please.”
“Over here,” Idril said.
I looked up at her. She was standing beside a rock where water was flowing out into the pool. She dipped her cupped hand beneath the stream and drank.
“The water comes from an underground spring,” she said. “It’s tasty and cold. It should be safe to drink, and my flask is almost empty. Everyone fill your water flasks here.”
The warriors pulled out their flasks and went to the rock to refill them. Idril walked back over and stood beside me.
Suddenly, Melriel jammed her metal water flask into my chest.
“Make yourself useful, slave,” she said. “Fill my flask. I drank the last of the water at our meal.”
Idril reached over and snatched the flask from Melriel’s hand.
“Here, let me fill your flask for you, delicate one,” she said scornfully. “Tobias Hart needs to work on the translation. We haven’t time to waste.”
Try as I might, I could not suppress a chuckle.
“You dare to laugh at your mistress?” Melriel said. “Perhaps later, I will think of something you won’t find so humorous.”
“Sorry, mistress,” I said. “I found an inscription here humorous.”
Then I lowered my gaze back to the medalli
on, hoping she bought my story.
Idril returned with Melriel’s flask, then took mine and filled it while I continued working on the inscriptions. About a half-hour later, I was confident I had translated the inscriptions accurately. But I double-checked to make sure.
Melriel sat beside me on the bench, and Idril stood over us with her arms crossed, impatient to move on. She had positioned the warriors to guard the exit from the temple and a gate that exited the courtyard.
“Well?” Idril said. “What does it say on the medallion?”
Translating from the Egyptian to Vulvarian as best I could, I told her.
“The ibis-headed deity sharpens his quill, he with the scale at the ready, this key to the secret undetected, forty-two judges and true, the heart must not offend.”
“What in the name of the Goddess-Queens does all that gibberish mean?” Melriel said.
“The ibis-headed deity sharpens his quill refers to Thoth, the god of the scribes,” I said.
“That also makes no sense,” Melriel said.
“There is more, mistress,” I said. “He with the scale at the ready is Anubis, the jackal god of mummification. This key to the secret undetected is this medallion, which makes it important. Forty-two judges and true refers to other gods presided over by the god of the underworld, Osiris. The heart must not offend, means that when weighed in the scales balanced by the Maat, the feather of truth, the sins of a deceased person, represented by the contents of his or her heart, must not offend the judges by weighing more than the feather.”
“But what does it all mean?” Idril said. “Does it tell you how to find the next location.”
“Maybe,” I said. “All the inscriptions relate to what in antiquity was a conception of the afterlife, the place the dead go. Either eternal bliss or eternal damnation. When a person died, they faced a trial called the Hall of Two Truths. There the deceased would come face to face with a panel of 42 gods presided over by the god of the underworld, Osiris. That’s the fellow represented by the middle statue back in the temple. The dead person would swear they were innocent of a lengthy list of potential sins. After the confession, then came a climactic weighing of the heart. ”
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